We just published a new e-Tips white paper on the Seven Essential Questions SaaS Companies Should Ask Their Hosting Providers before selecting a partner.
Beyond these seven questions, what questions do you consider essential in selecting your SaaS Hosting partner?
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[...] the original: What Questions Should You Ask Your SaaS Hosting Provider? By admin | category: Hosting, hosting provider | tags: before-selecting, companies, [...]
Very good white paper – thanks. Of course there are “millions other small things” which should / could be asked, the devil is in details, so, if possible, also a personal contact on all levels is a must. For a small company it may be, but should not!, just one person familiarizing with the SaaS provider but all levels in your company should have a (friendly) contact in provider – ask who they are, how to contact, etc – a help desk is not a good answer. Things happen and it’s not just the provider which could be the roadblock, it might be the communication with the provider if not enough channels are available.
One thing I didn’t see (maybe my blindness?) but the financial strength / escrow accounts for used software, configurations, licenses, etc / other business aspects – we learned a long time ago (SaaS is not as new as is commonly thought!) those things can come and bite hard one day. The (possible) compensation doesn’t help much (as promised in SLA or whatever) if the provider is closed down suddenly by financial, legal or other business reasons. Using SaaS is like business partnering, you want to cover all and not all is technical.
Tuomo – Thank you for your excellent comments. You make some terrific points.
Visiting the data center(s) and getting a good understanding of the facility, people, and the company’s operations is crucial in selecting a SaaS hosting partner.
Understanding the financial strength of your SaaS hosting partner is also critical. The damage that can be done to your business if your SaaS partner is closed down can be significant.
I like to say that “a start-up working with a start-up is nothing but squaring the risk.” It’s important to select a stable SaaS hosting partner with a long history and solid track record. Then you can turn 100% of your focus to your SaaS offering.
Building on Tuomo’s comments I hope the following helps in developing a broad range of issues to address. There are many risk categories – as in finance !
1. SAS 70 was mentioned – but which one Type 1 and/or 2. Big difference (and cost for the DC provider). Is there a history of compliance – if not why not?
2. What Uptime Institute recommendations does the DC provider say they meet? Ask for proof and do a walk through – physical and procedural. Use your judgement. Do the DC staff know their subject matter?
3. Look for carrier neutrality – bandwidth is bandwidth but you should know the physical routing into/out of the DC. Do all carriers use the same physical cable ducts into the DC – what happens if manual works cut through a trench (has been known) and takes out all comms. Whats plan B ?
What happens with cable breaks – varies by country of course but get to know the carrier cable routing plans – it isn’t that complex when you start to really drill down. If a carrier cannot explain this to you go to another one. Grill the carriers about their resilience plans (this goes beyond the DC provider) eg earthquake derived cable cuts – not uncommon in certain regions in the world eg Taiwan/Luzon Strait.
4. Look at other plant issues (power/aircon/physical building/grounding/diesel reserves): – who supplies it, to what levels, growth, backup etc. It may meet external standards but use your judgement – if it was your personal money would you do it? Again varies by country – be pragmatic.
5. Scenario plan “what if disasters” eg flooding, typhoon/hurricane, civil unrest (if there are gas price hikes and rioting at the gas pumps how do staff get to work (happens in the West) – has the DC provider addressed such. If so ask “show me” where appropriate, if not then why not.
6. Ask for reference customers. What’s the word on the street?
7. Draw up a matrix of competing DC providers – how do they really compare quantitatively and qualitatively. Is using multiple DC providers realistic?
8. Seek out those carrier people who went through Y2K. Lots of lessons to be learned from that time that apply to DC practice.
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Michael – Terrific comments – Thank you for adding to the discussion!